PDF Converter Review: What’s New in Able2Extract Professional 14?

Here at PC-Tablet, we love digging up tips on the easiest ways to get the hardest tasks done. And one area where you can’t have too many tips is when dealing with PDF documents.

Now as you know, we’ve covered PDF converters, creators and editors, and are always on the lookout for new tools on the tech scene. However, it’s always worth taking another look at one we’ve covered when one of those tools get an upgrade you can use.

So today we’re giving you another look at Able2Extract Professional. The developers of the software, Investintech.com, have released a new version of the tool and the latest features expand on the software’s focus on digital document security, efficiency, and exchange.

Well, here’s a look at the newest major features in Able2Extract Professional 14 and how it’s stepping up its game to help you boost the way you work with PDF documents.

Sign PDF Documents

The newest feature set that is leading this latest version is the newly added ability to sign PDF files. This feature allows you to do a few things.

Add Electronic Signatures

You can sign a PDF electronically. This means adding the image of a signature to your PDF document.

A few clicks in the Signatures side panel will get you started and lead you to type, draw or import your signature image:

Then it takes just a couple of additional clicks to place it on the page and save the signed PDF. The process which is done through the side panel here is pretty much in keeping with how this software functions, which mean you can just as easily perform other tasks like PDF editing or annotating in the same manner.

Add Digital Cryptographic Signatures

Signing your PDF documents with digital certificates can also be accomplished. All you need to do is first insert the device on which the certificate is stored and then it becomes a matter of selecting to Digitally Sign the Document to get started.

You are then able to access and click on the digital certificate to apply it. With this functionality, you can even choose to whether or not to add a signature image.

Verify Digital Signatures

This PDF signature feature also accommodates how you need to deal with signed PDFs that you receive. In Able2Extract, you can verify the digital cryptographic signatures that are attached to PDF documents.

A quick glance at the padlock icon on the document tab will let you know if the signature is valid (green), has some issues (orange) or is invalid (red).

In the side panel under Existing Signatures, you can even expand upon the signature information and view who signed the file and ascertain when it was signed. If that isn’t enough, you can click on the signature to expand it and check out some of the digital certificate information.

Use AI-Powered PDF to Excel: Smart and Master Templates

In case you don’t know, Able2Extract is known for its Custom PDF to Excel feature. It allows you to move, add, and delete rows and columns of PDF tables you want to convert so you get exactly what you want into Excel.

In this version, they added artificial intelligence to the mix, which helps boost the feature by letting you train Custom Excel templates (which let you save the custom conversion settings you’ve set up) into Smart and Master Templates. All you need is a few PDF samples of the table structure you want.

When you have a Smart Template trained, it helps the software to automatically identify and select all the same table structures throughout an entire PDF with little to no interaction.

This is also possible for Batch conversions with Master Templates. When a Master Template is trained (via the batch interface), you can upload it and get Able2Extract to find and select the table structures in multiple PDFs and convert them from PDF to Excel on the spot.

In other words, this AI-technology lets you automate the way you select your tabular data for individual or batch PDF to Excel conversions.

Our Thoughts?

Overall, this latest version is definitely worth checking out. The tool hasn’t lost any of its appeals since we last reviewed it. The signatures feature is really simple to use and a great addition considering security breaches are becoming a bigger threat.

Admittedly, the Smart and Master template feature may need a bit of time to set up and train them with samples. However, the value of being able to automate the selection of who knows how many similarly structured tables scattered throughout a 50-page PDF report, for instance, isn’t lost on us.

Despite that one caveat, the amount of features you get for the price alone is worth downloading and test driving the Able2Extract free trial version for Windows, macOS, and Linux. So if you haven’t tried it yet, we recommend that you do.